On Sunday, the day of the Pentecost, terrorists carried out attacks on churches and a synagogue in multiple locations in Dagestan, Russia. In the attacks on Derbent, Makhachkala, and Sertokala, 20 people lost their lives, and more than 46 were taken to hospital, not including the multiple attackers who died during the firefight with police forces.

Fr. Nikolai Kotelnikov, a 66-year-old archpriest and pastor of the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin of God in Derbent, is among the victims. He served there for 40 years and was widely loved and respected by the local community. During the terrorist attack on his church, he was brutally murdered in front of his parishioners.

Not all of the terrorists have been identified yet, but the attackers are thought to have links to the Islamic State terrorist organization. They were armed with automatic rifles and opened fire on churches, a synagogue,  which they set ablaze as well, and police stations while shouting Islamist phrases such as “Allah is great!”.

Two of the attackers who died in the gunfight were identified as Osman and Adil Omarov, sons of the head of the Sergokalinsky District, Magomed Omarov. He was taken into custody and is being interrogated.

Vladimir Legoyda, spokesman for the Patriarch of Moscow, said that,

“it is not enough to condemn such barbaric and dastardly actions, society and the state must do everything possible to definitively exclude the possibility of these bursts of terrorism, whatever the motives that push people to carry out these acts.”

Three days of mourning was declared for the victims of the terrorist attacks,

Source: Asia News

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